A New Place and New Friends
by MeHihihihihihihi
Summary: Nine-year old Ulrich and his Japanese friend are out playing in the forest. They run into this strange boy named Odd, who reveals to them an interesting secret. The summary isn't that interesting, and makes this story sound cliche. I don't want to give too much away. Just take my word for it and read the story. It will do you good. READ IT! It has little curious cute kids in it.


A New Place and a New Friends

"Ready or not here I come!" nine year old Moriko's voice called throughout the entire thick green forest. Birds chirped away at the sound of the girl's high pitched cry.

A nine year old boy giggled to himself from the top of a large oak tree as he watched the Japanese girl search aimlessly through the forest looking for him. The boy's name was Ulrich and he had always considered Moriko his best friend. The two kids have played a number of games with each other for years. This time was no different.

It was a beautiful Saturday, and both Ulrich and Moriko's parents wanted them to enjoy the day outside. They decided to go the forest not too far from Kadic Acedemy, and play hide and seek. Hide and Seek was a game that the two kids haven't played in a while, and decided that the forest was a great spot for them to go play.

"Ulrich I'm coming to get you," Moriko shouted as she sprinted through the forest, looking inside of different bushes, behind shrubs, and even looked up trees. She was too busy running and searching to notice a blond boy running in the opposite direction.

"Ummmmmffff…." The two children grunted as they bumped into one another startled.

Moriko was dazed for a minute and wiped the black dust off her black shirt while still on the group. She saw the blond boy instantly laughing at this, standing up quickly. His face was flushed with embarrassment.

"My bad," the boy quickly said apologetically before turning to run off.

"Wait!" Moriko called for him. He stopped, turning around at her surprised by the young girl's sudden interest in him. She then casually asked him "What's your name?"

"Odd." The boy replied quickly. Then, he started running off again saying, "Good talk. Bye!"

"No don't go!" Moriko called and ran after Odd. She grabbed the back of his purple shirt causing him to stop and look her confused. The Japanese girl seemed to take a sudden interest into the boy.

"What?!" the blond boy asked her more confused.

"I want to be your friend," Moriko told him smiling nervously. "Plus you didn't tell me your name yet."

"Yes I did. It's Odd!"

"What? You mean Todd or something?"

"No Odd, that's my name."

"Odd is not a name."

"Yes it is," Ulrich replied coming up from behind Moriko.

Moriko turned around, startled at Ulrich's sudden appearance, and then started laughing shrilly. "I found you! I win!"

"No you didn't, you took ages to find me. So I came out of my hiding place," Ulrich replied sharply. Moriko rolled her eyes, while Odd snickered. Ulrich then changed the subject, "You're Odd Della Robbia aren't you?"

"Yeah," Odd answered surprised.

"My dad knows your dad. They're old school friends it seems. My dad and him go bowling every Friday," Ulrich replied happily knowing he guessed the name correctly.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Moriko asked Odd suspiciously.

"It's a secret," the blond replied lowering his voice to a whisper. The two nine year-olds glanced at each other in confusion and then back at him. What kind of secret could be kept in a common forest like this?

Moriko asked Odd, "Can you tell us your secret then? I still want to be friends with you. And Ulrich probably wants to be your friend too."

Ulrich nodded subtly, confirming the girl's words.

Odd hesitated and glanced around him for any signs to eavesdroppers before saying, "Okay, your promise not to tell?"

"Promise!" the two nine-year old said instantly.

"Alright," Odd replied before running over to his left. Ulrich and Moriko glanced at each other and shrugged. They followed the blond to see where he would lead them. They ran for a good couple of minutes through the thick forest, passing by a number of towering trees. A number of leaves crackled beneath their footsteps before the children suddenly stopped.

Odd knelt down at what appeared to be the lid to the sewers. He lifted the heavy stone circle up, and gently climbed into the dark hole to the sewers. From far away, it seemed that the boy had this creative idea to do into the sewers, and that there was really nothing down there.

Ulrich and Moriko being open minded children followed Odd into the sewers without question. Waiting below for them was a dark lit tunnel. To an adult, the tunnel would be somewhat unexpected, but not very interesting. To a couple of kids, it was a cool discovery.

"Woah!" Moriko exclaimed sprinting through the tunnel after Odd in amazement. "I like this secret already!"

"You just wait," Odd told her still running through the dark mysterious tunnels.

It wasn't long before all three kids approached a large abandoned factory. Odd sprinted in with no hesitation and then grabbed onto a nearby rope and swung down. Moriko stared at the ropes for a second hesitating.

"Are you scared of heights or something?" Odd called from below her. "Don't worry, I'll catch you if you fall."

Moriko snorted, pretending to be offended. "That won't be necessary, I'm not afraid of stupid heights."

She ran up and swung on to a rope. Startled by the sudden height below her, she screamed and let go the rope.

"Moriko!" Ulrich shouted, watching his best friend fall several feet. He ran over to the edge, grabbed a rope, and swung down to where she fell.

Moriko sighed in relief when she realized she was okay and saw that Odd had managed to half-catch her and had his arms wrapped around her trying to keep her up. "Told you, I'd catch you."

Moriko looked away embarrassed and from either Ulrich or Odd. She quickly changed the subject and asked, "So where is this secret of yours?"

"Right here." Odd replied punching the red elevator button right next to him. The doors swung open showing the inside of a large rectangular elevator. The three children stepped inside and the doors shut behind them.

Before long, the doors opened again and a girl with blond hair appeared from behind the doors. "Odd! Who's this?"

"Just some new friends I made, from the forest. Seemed trustworthy, I thought they could join our group," Odd answered.

Before Ulrich or Moriko said anything they gasped in surprise at the large room in front of them. It was dimly lit, with a gigantic computer in front of them. A boy with pink hair was typing away on the computer completely unaware of new visitors.

"Forgive my brother Alvin. He's been pretty preoccupied with this nifty new computer we just discovered." The blond-haired girl told them while Ulrich and Moriko were busy gaping at the shocking room they just entered.

"Why is his hair pink?" Ulrich blurted.

Alvin looked up from the computer, his eyes widened at the sight of new visitors. "Odd! Who's this?"

"New friends who have come to join us," Odd answered gesturing to the two newcomers. "I promise these will be the only strangers I bring to the lab from now on. The secret doesn't seem too secretive now that there are more people."

"What is this place?" Moriko asked curiously, looking around dazed.

Alvin spun out of his chair and walked up to the group of kids that were gathered in front of the elevator. "We dunno yet. It'll be something like our club house for now. My sister and I found this super computer and we turned it on. This super computer seems to have a ton of stuff on it, including a virtual world."

"And this place is secretive! Nobody knows about it. So we can meet up and hang out whenever we want!" Odd added excitedly.

"Right," Alvin replied not really listening to Odd, "And to answer why I have pink hair. Blame mom's genetics."

The girl with blond hair giggled before saying, "I'm Avril by the way. I'm the little sister of Alvin."

"How old are you?" Ulrich asked curiously.

"I'm 10, Alvin is 11, and Odd is 10 as well." Avril answered while Avlin hurried back to the computer. "How old are you?"

"We'll be turning 10 soon," Moriko answered following Alvin to see what he was doing on the computer. "I want to see this virtual world!"

"Well here it is!" Alvin replied, bringing up the pixilated world with its five sectors up on the computer screen. Another image of the world appeared in front of everyone as a hologram as well.

"Wow!" Ulrich jumped back in surprise. Avril giggled at his reaction to the sudden image. "I can't believe there's a whole virtual world out there."

"One day, I'll figure out a way to get into it." Avlin replied. "For now I'm just having fun exploring this complex system."

The pink haired boy began typing furiously into the computer.

"Ulrich! It's nine! If we don't hurry home! Our parents are going to throw a fit." Moriko exclaimed in surprise looking down at her watch.

"Well, nice seeing you guys!" Ulrich told Odd, Avril, and Alvin in the room. "Be here tomorrow?"

"Count on it," Alvin and Avril answered at once.

"I'll walk you guys back!" Odd volunteered.

At the forest, the three children walked over to the nearby neighborhood, with Moriko running ahead. Crickets chirped happily in the black, cool night air. Barely anything could be seen expect for the neighborhood lights.

"So are you and Moriko close?" Odd asked Ulrich when the black-haired girl was out of ear shot.

"Very," Ulrich answered walking alongside Odd. "She's my best friend."

"I wish I had a best friend," Odd muttered.

Ulrich looked at the blond boy sympathetically and replied, "Hey with time, you can be our best friend too. And if Moriko and I get on each others' nerves, we can turn to you."

Odd felt the cold breeze beside him and shook his head. "You two must have known each other for years though. No. I'm not going to intrude on your friendship."

"Well….we are twins y'know…"

"YOU'RE TWINS?!" Odd yelped in shock.

Ulrich laughed at the blond boy's sudden surprise, "Yeah…. That's how we've known each other for years, that's how we've been in each others lives so much…didn't you notice we are both half Japanese?"

Odd looked at Ulrich dumb-founded and said,"Moriko? Japanese? Yes. You? Not so much."

"It's in the face good buddy. The eyes and nose." Ulrich answered still laughing. He was now looking up at the stars twinkling above him. The brown haired boy seemed so calm now. Ulrich then looked at Odd and then asked, "Actually….why do you seem so relieved over this?"

"Huh?" Odd asked confused. He was watching Moriko, who was running ahead of them still. The girl was now looking up at the beautiful stars and the cars passing by the nearby town.

"Do you have a crush on my sister or something?" Ulrich asked him.

"Huh? No!" Odd answered instantly, shocked at the question.

"Hey our neighborhood is right here." Moriko called, running over to the two boys.

She ran over and hugged Odd, "Good night Odd. See you tomorrow."

"Bye buddy," Ulrich said leaving Odd with his sister into the neighborhood, winking at him after a little while.

"So you think of me as a buddy now?" Odd asked Ulrich while he was still within in earshot.

"Yep," Ulrich replied.

"Why wouldn't we think of you as our buddy? We're your trusted friends now!" Moriko shouted back at Odd right next to Ulrich.

"Oooohh…. Well…. Bye you guys," Odd called back to them, watching the two kids' outlines leave into the neighborhood full of glowing houses.

The blond-haired boy backed away slowly and then sprinted to the direction of his house muttering under his breath, "bye friends."


End file.
